Temperance Bedford shows some emotion after coming up short of a state title against Macomb Dakota during the Class A volleyball championship at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek. (Jared Purcell | japurcell@mlive.com)

BATTLE CREEK – Did that just happen?

It was the look of shock registered by many players on Macomb Dakota’s volleyball team.

The short answer: yes, it did. A school that has only been in existence since 1995 took down a perennial powerhouse in the Class A state championship match.

The Cougars, who had not lost a set during the entire tournament, nearly fell a couple times during the finals, but in the end Macomb Dakota brought home the school’s first state title with a 25-22, 25-21, 26-24 victory over Temperance Bedford.

The Kicking Mules (65-13-3 overall) had previously won three Class A titles in 1998, 2001 and 2005 and finished runner-up in four other seasons.

“I really can’t put into words what just happened,” Macomb Dakota coach Tracie Ferguson said. “The girls came in focused and ready for this event. For us to get to the final four was a big thing, but winning the whole thing defies explanation. I didn’t know if this was going to happen. I knew it, I saw it, I felt it.”

Although Macomb Dakota (59-5) picked up efforts from many players, including five kills each from Megan Manierski and Kylie Churches, 43 assists from Manierski and 19 digs from Megan Downey, it was the play of Carli Snyder that glued the team together.

Snyder, a US Junior Olympian headed for Florida in the fall of 2014, slammed down 31 kills and had 14 digs in the win. The 31 kills is the third-most in a state final since the advent of five sets and rally scoring in the 2004-05 season.

“I feel like we won, but it doesn’t feel like the season should be over,” Snyder said. “We’ve never played teams like Northville and Temperance Bedford before this and to take them down just seems weird. I almost feel like I should be going back to practice on Monday. We’ve worked so hard and this is great.”

Macomb Dakota finished the season ranked third in the state in Class A, while Temperance Bedford was not rated.

Temperance Bedford coach Jodi Manore has seen many top-tier players in her 28 years of coaching, but it’s safe to say Snyder might be on the top of her list, if not close to the top.

“I was really proud of the girls,” Manore said. “There was one other team that was better than us this year, but if you went back and asked a lot of teams if we would be state runners-up I don’t know how many people would have said yes. We just happened to come up against a team with the best player we’d ever seen, not to mention a pretty good supporting cast.

“We don’t have any great big players on our team and we don’t practice against that. Our strength is we have a good complement of players that do a good job out there.”

Kayla Gwozdz led with 14 kills and Nicole Rightnowar added 11 kills. MacKenzie Andrews recorded 37 assists and five digs, and Ellen Hays had 18 digs to anchor Bedford’s defense.

“Carli was amazing,” Gwozdz said. “It was hard to adjust to her. But we believed in ourselves and we believed that we could get here.”

Ferguson, who played her volleyball at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, remembered going up against Bedford in her playing days. It almost seemed surreal to Ferguson that she beat a team coached by Manore.

“It’s funny because I when I played in high school we went up against Bedford, and now I’m coaching and Jodi still is,” Ferguson said.